Lady Jets’ defense overpowers Dixie

PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Lady Jets defense held the visiting Dixie Lady Greyhounds to seven points after three periods of play in a 50-23 Monday night win played at the Hanger.

“It was a good win tonight,” said Franklin Monroe Coach Abbey Moore. “We came out ready to play from the get-go. That’s been a focus because we struggled with that as of late – that was definitely a positive tonight.”

The Lady Jets took a 17-2 lead after one period of play with Corina Conley collecting six points including 4-4 at the line, Chloe Brumbaugh chipped in two baskets good for four points, Audrey Cable added a two point field goal and Kennedy Morris launched three-point buzzer-beater from mid-court hitting nothing but net to give the FM junior five first-quarter points.

Period No. 2 had the Lady Jets defense limiting the visitors to a single basket while Conley was adding two baskets, Peters a bucket and Goubeaux going 2-2 at the line to send the teams to the break with Franklin Monroe holding a 25-4 lead with Coach Moore liberally going to her bench.

We were able to get a good rotation in, even in the first half we were getting girls on the floor,” Moore said. “It was like we didn’t skip a beat. It was a great job.”

The Lady Jets made it a 35-7 score after three periods of play with Conley connecting for thee baskets while Brumbaugh was hitting a bucket and going 2-2 at the line.

With Coach Moore clearing her bench in the final period of play, the visitors would add 16 points to the board while the local girls were putting 15 points in the book.

Tara Goubeaux and Stella Shellabarger paced the Lady Jets in fourth quarter scoring; Shellabarger five points including 1-1 at the line, Goubeaux five points including a trey, a Chloe McGlinch triple and a basket from Belle Cable.

Terra, my senior tonight did a great job coming in and knocking down a couple big shots,” Moore said. “Her effort was really good tonight.”

“Overall the big thing for us is our defense,” added Moore. “Holding them to seven points in the first three quarters – that’s going to win us a lot of ballgames this year. I was proud of our effort defensively tonight.”

FM sophomore Corina Conley led the Lady Jets with 16 points, all coming in the first three quarters as the sophomore would spend the final period on the bench cheering on her teammates.

“Corina had a good offensive night,” pointed out Moore. “She put the ball in the hole, free throws she was 4-4. She is shooting around 94 percent for the season so far – that’s a positive.”

Dixie’s McKinlee Ruppert led all scorers in the game with 17 points including 10 fourth quarter points.